


To New Beginings

by AceQueenKing



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Developing Friendships, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-06-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 22:16:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4238574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/pseuds/AceQueenKing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tali’Zorah stops to see the land that generations of quarians died for. Turns out, she’s not the only one with that idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To New Beginings

Tali sat down, exhausted, somewhere on Rannoch’s southern continent.

 _L’Chaim,_  she thinks.She’s never been here, but like her father and his father before him, she’s learned places, names. Now she has time to observe the dips and swells of the lands that hundreds of years of her ancestors have died to see again.

Tali removes her mask, and treasures the feeling of Rannoch air hitting her face.

She closes her eyes as the wind blows. It  _hurts_. There’s bits of dirt in it that sting her eyes.

But at the same time it feels  _good._ She’s the first quarian in 300 years to feel the caress of this dust upon her skin.

She watches Shepard, talking with Shala'Raan and a Prime. She should rejoin them, but 300 years of history have waited for this.

War can wait a bit longer.

A furry, woodland creature darts in front of her, chittering. “Hello…uh….”  
  
“ _Dohv,_ ” a tired voice says. “They are called  _dohv_.”  
  
She looks up in sunrise. “Admiral Koris.”  
  
“Admiral Zorah.” He sits down next to her. His stare lingers for several moments, enough to make her uncomfortable. Caught without the mask, she feels exposed, even among friends. “It’s…hard to believe we’re still standing.”  
  
“Yes.” She pauses for a moment and neither of them say anything, too caught up in the beauty of the land.

“Your friend is a remarkable leader.” Koris laughs. “Reminds me a bit of your father.”  
  
“You never liked my father,” she says, and holds a hand out to try to get the creature to come closer. It’s easier to concentrate on the Dohv than to concentrate on Koris, or her father.

“He is not my favorite Admiral Zorah, that is true.” The sound of a latch opening jerks her attention away from the furry creature.

“Oh!” She gasps, as Koris slowly unscrews his faceplate. She turns away. She can’t remember seeing another quarian without a mask – the only quarians she has ever seen were her parent's faces when she was born. She does not remember that, of course.Only her father’s words -  _You have your mother’s eyes, and my heart –_  painfully burst though the static of her memories.

She never saw her father’s face again. Perhaps one day, she will see Kal’s.

Still, she cannot resist peaking at Koris as he shakes off the faceplate to his helmet.

His face is thin; angular. His skin is light brown, duskier than hers. His nose is larger than hers; his mouth thinner. His hair long and jet black – in that, they are similar, though his is flaked with gray. He breathes in and out – once, twice, and then he closes his eyes.

He is not a great beauty, she thinks, but it isn’t as if she has much to compare him to. “Do you mind?” he asks, and she notes that despite his darker skin, she still sees small centers of pink expanding through his cheeks. “It’s just…”  
  
“No.” She shakes her head. It’s weird, yes, but there will come a day when they all will walk around bare-faced. At least she hopes so. “It’s a new day. For all of us.”

“Keelah,” he says as he stretches his legs out. “By the ancestors, I never thought I would see this day.”  
  
“Yes. It is…” She tries to think of a word that encapsulates everything she feels: happiness, sadness, fear, excitement,  _hope_. “It’s…”

“Unbelievable.” He breathes. “Just unbelievable. To be on the homeland…. and peace with the Geth.” He shakes his head. “I am afraid I am a bit in shock.”  
  
“That’s Shepard for you.” She shrugs. “The woman doesn’t let anything stop her – krogan, reapers, her immune system…”

“I am beginning to see that.” His eyes wrinkle as he smiles. “Your friend is quite a captain, Admiral Zorah.”

“Yes.” There is no captain she’d rather follow. _Tali’Zorah vas Normandy_  has fit her in a way that  _Tali’Zorah vas Neema_ never has. “And… It’s Tali.”

“What?” He cocks his head.

“You can…call me Tali.”

He is silent for a long moment. “You should call me Zaal as well, then.”

She shakes her head. “I am flattered, but… It is a bit rude to call a senior admiral by their first name.”  
  
“Ah, but you are a much better admiral than I. That’s worth a promotion.” He stretches. “And we are certainly both a good bit better than  _Gerrell_.”

She smiles wide at that, and doesn’t miss the way his eyes widen as he looks at her.

“I only wish we could have saved Legion, as well.”

“Your Geth friend?”   
  
“Yes.” She nods. “He was…different from us, but… At the same time…”   
  
“He was one of our own.” Koris nods. “Your friend has gone to the ancestors, Tali. One day, we shall follow. And you will see him again, and you can be proud that you have preserved his people as well as our own.”

“I hope so.”

“Raan said you were thinking of resigning. Don’t.”

“I have to. I need to help Shepard, in her fight. She needs…”  
  
“Shepard is a true friend to our people. But….” His eyes are on hers, glowing with a fire that makes her uneasy. “Hans and Xen will no doubt fight this peace. Your presence on the council would be invaluable.”  
  
“I’m…not meant to be an admiral.” She looks down. “People died, under my orders.”  
  
“People will always die, Tali. It’s up to you to make sure their sacrifice was worth it. And this achievement was one generations have died for.” He clears his throat. “I never liked your father, Tali – but even I know he would be proud of you.”

“I’m sorry…I just can’t abandon Shepard.”  
  
“A leave of absence, then.” He squeezes her hand.

“I’ll…think about it.”  
  
Without warning, a cold, wet drop lands on her shoulder. Then another, and another.

The land smells sweet, distinct.  _Rain._

Tali grins. She’s never experienced this before. None of them have.

Tali laughs.

“Ugh.” Zaal’Korris quickly straps on his mask.”Miserable stuff.”

Tali merely grins and embraces the rain.

  


**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt on tumblr. Prompt word was petrichor - a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.
> 
> Translation notes:
> 
> L’Chaim is a hebrew salutation and means “To life!”


End file.
